Recent content by acepepper

This is good stuff. I'm starting to get a picture of how it will all work. Maybe it will be better :D

There wasn't a single driver I know who wanted him to keep it either. We all make mistakes but you get a sense for who can do the job and who can't.

That driver also kept his job....briefly. Yes it is strange that a prosecution was brought in this case. A sign of things to come maybe. I wouldn't like to be starting as a new driver today, it's a far harder job than it used to be.

I hope you're right, it would make more sense, but we were told on a recent brief that that wouldn't be the case.

But that's my point, the bottleneck hasn't really been fixed for SE passengers, there just won't be quite so much going through it. I thought that in times of stock failure, signal problems etc, when Boro Market becomes a nightmare, there would be a way round with the new lines. But there won't...

Only joking :wink: Yes there will be a lot of improvements in the next few years, (Crossrail etc). In all my time on the railway, I've never seen so much investment. We were always the poor relations to the roads. But I still have this nagging feeling that SE passengers are going to be far...

LOL, that's another way of saying they'll be waiting in the queue to get through Borough Market.

That's another thing I've wondered about; what provision, if any, is being made to get these people to CHX? Anyone know?

I can't see two up platforms speeding things up to be honest. There are two up platforms for Cannon St, but still only one train at a time can leave. It will be the same on the CX side.

Does that mean that SE will be getting Thameslink's 319 and 377 fleets?

I spoke to a regular London Bridge commuter yesterday and he looked like I'd punched him in the gut when I told him about the 18 month non stopping CX trains. He had absolutely no clue. I honestly think he walked away not fully believing me.

It will relieve pressure, no doubt about that, but it's not going to be the Nirvana that those selling it are trying to make out.

I'm no expert but I'm a SE driver and at the recent briefing we were given, we were told that the new lines will be Thameslink only. We will never use them. That's when it dawned on me that SE passengers are being sold a pup.

Do you think that most normal commuters have any idea of the disruption they'll face for the next few years? For instance how many, I wonder realize that no Charing Cross services will stop at London Bridge, (up or down) for 18 months?

But the point is, two of these lines will be dedicated to Thameslink only, which is a massive boost for them poor old SE passengers will be stuck with the same old two lines they have now. Massive pain for not much gain as far as I can see.